London 2012: £600 million budget unlikely to be enough for Games security

London officials believe the £600 million earmarked for security at the 2012 Olympics may be insufficient to provide a safe and secure Games.

Big costs: security is likely to cost more than £600 million for the London 2012 GamesPhoto: EPA

By Jacquelin Magnay, Olympics Editor

8:32PM BST 09 Sep 2010

There could be a reshuffle of monies and responsibilities to tap into other Government security-related budgets.

This comes as a review of Olympic security conducted by Baroness Pauline Neville Jones is nearing completion and the Government is exacting savage cuts in its comprehensive review settlement.

It is understood Lady Neville-Jones's review will pinpoint the operational areas of the departments, such as the Metropolitan Police, London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, the Home Office and the Olympic Delivery Authority, and reallocate monies accordingly.

The Home Office is in control of policing and security during the Olympics.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We are reviewing the security arrangements, including the budget, to ensure that the measures in place are the right ones. The safety of those participating, watching and visiting the Olympics is paramount."

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has argued strongly that the Olympic security budget had to be protected because "we have to understand how big it is going to be" and protect front line policing.

Security planners for the Olympic Games have been working on the premis of a severe level of threat, meaning an attack is likely.

London organising committee director of security and resilience Sir Ian Johnston told a world press briefing last month that to rachet up the level of threat to critical (where an attack is expected imminently) would be prohibitively expensive and was workable for only short periods of time.

Insiders have told The Daily Telegraph that the £600 million already set aside to pay for extra policing and security costs during the Games is expected to be fully drawn down but relying on other departments is difficult as their budgets are under increasing pressure too.

In its annual report earlier this month Locog indicated that the security and safety strategy of the Games was being paid out of the £600 million as well as other existing security arrangements such as the annual £12 billion policing budget and the £3 billion counter-terrorism budget .

Originally the £600 million, and a further £238 million of security contingency monies, set aside in July 2007 was to cover all of the additional costs involved in policing and securing the Games.

The Olympic Delivery Authority has flagged that it may require more than £110 million in extra money to take on extra security, logistics and facilities management at the Olympic park site after it was given additional control beyond the finishing of the venues to handing over to the Olympic Legacy Park Company in 2014.

Historically the security budgets at Games have escalated in the final two years, although none of the recent Games cities have had such comprehensive security plans in place as part of normal city operations.

Security costs to cover the low threat level at this year's Vancouver Winter Olympics rocketed from £110 million to £565 million.